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DOE OSTI2025

Machine Learning Vacancy Formation Energy in Nickel-Based Superalloys

Creep performance plays a key role in nickel-based superalloys for high temeprature applications. Creep behavior depends on many parameters such as strength, dislocations, diffusivity, and microstructural stability in addition to temeprature, applied stress, and oxidation. This work focuses on predicting vacancy formation energy in nickel-based superalloys using machine learning approach. High-throughput density functional theory (DFT) calculations are performed on Ni-based alloys with the addition of various alloying elements to predict the vacancy formation energy and vacancy concentration. Machine learning is performed using various models including graph neural networks.

creep performance↗

DOE OSTI2026

Predicting the High-Temperature Oxidation Response of Nickel Superalloys Using CALPHAD-Enhanced Machine Learning

Structural materials such as Ni-based superalloys used in high-temperature power cycles are routinely exposed to toxic environments including high temperature and pressure, aqueous and gas corrosion, etc. Here, we present a physics-informed machine learning approach to predict the oxidation response of diverse Ni-superalloys. First, a high-fidelity experimental dataset is curated from typical oxidation mass-change experiments in air, covering 25+ elements and different physical behavior such as parabolic growth, non-parabolic growth, and oxide spallation. Second, the dataset is featurized using thermophysical, chemical, and mechanical properties obtained from high-throughput CALPHAD calculations. Third, several machine learning models are developed to identify key features related to mass-change characteristics and model the mass-change curve for various alloys. Finally, the model is deployed to rapidly screen over a new composition space and down-select candidate alloys with high oxidation resistance for experimental validation.

CALPHAD↗

DOE OSTI2020

Back-Stress and Its Evolution during Primary Creep in Particle Strengthened Nickel Superalloys

According to Eshelby’s theory, inelastically inhomogeneous inclusions in a metallic matrix give rise to a distribution of internal stresses. In the case of particle strengthened materials, such as nickel base superalloys, the presence and evolution of this back-stress leads to various observable effects, such as primary creep, back-flow upon loading, and memory of prior deformation. This article presents the background of the concept of back-stress and how it applies to the scenario of creep. A derivation of an evolution equation for back-stress in the context of primary creep is also presented. The results from neutron diffraction with in-situ creep experiments on directionally solidified nickel superalloys are presented in order to demonstrate the validity of the proposed equation and the corollaries derived therefrom.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2024

Enhancement of γ/γ’ Microstructured Cobalt Superalloys Produced from Atomized Powder by Creating a Harmonic Structure

A material’s properties must be continuously improved to meet the demands of extreme conditions in high-temperature applications. It is demonstrated that γ-γ’ Co-based superalloys could surpass the yield stress of Ni-based superalloys at high temperature due to the γ-γ’ structure. The powders were subjected to a harmonic modification in order to refine the grain structure on the surface and to activate the sintering process. This study examines how harmonic structure affects microstructure and mechanical properties at high temperatures. Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) was used for consolidation to maintain the ultrafine grain size microstructure of the powder. Compression tests were conducted from room temperature (RT) to 750 °C to assess the mechanical properties of the material. Yield stress values obtained from harmonic structures are four times higher than those obtained from cast alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS2016

Comparison of gamma-gamma Phase Coarsening Responses of Three Powder Metal Disk Superalloys

The phase microstructures of several powder metal (PM) disk superalloys were quantitatively evaluated. Contents, chemistries, and lattice parameters of gamma and gamma strengthening phase were determined for conventionally heat treated Alloy 10, LSHR, and ME3 superalloys, after electrolytic phase extractions. Several of long term heat treatments were then performed, to allow quantification of the precipitation, content, and size distribution of gamma at a long time interval to approximate equilibrium conditions. Additional coarsening heat treatments were performed at multiple temperatures and shorter time intervals, to allow quantification of the precipitation, contents and size distributions of gamma at conditions diverging from equilibrium. Modest differences in gamma and gamma lattice parameters and their mismatch were observed among the alloys, which varied with heat treatment. Yet, gamma coarsening rates were very similar for all three alloys in the heat treatment conditions examined. Alloy 10 had higher gamma dissolution and formation temperatures than LSHR and ME3, but a lower lattice mismatch, which was slightly positive for all three alloys at room temperature. The gamma precipitates of Alloy 10 appeared to remain coherent at higher temperatures than for LSHR and ME3. Higher coarsening rates were observed for gamma precipitates residing along grain boundaries than for those within grains in all three alloys, during slow-moderate quenching from supersolvus solution heat treatments, and during aging at temperatures of 843 C and higher.

Superalloys↗

NASA NTRS2016

Cyclic Oxidation and Hot Corrosion of NiCrY-Coated Disk Superalloys

Powder metallurgy disk superalloys have been designed for higher engine operating temperatures through improvement of their strength and creep resistance. Yet, increasing disk application temperatures to 704 degrees Centigrade and higher could enhance oxidation and activate hot corrosion in harmful environments. Protective coatings could be necessary to mitigate such attack. Cylindrical coated specimens of disk superalloys LSHR and ME3 were subjected to thermal cycling to produce cyclic oxidation in air at a maximum temperature of 760 degrees Centigrade. The effects of substrate roughness and coating thickness on coating integrity after cyclic oxidation were considered. Selected coated samples that had cyclic oxidation were then subjected to accelerated hot corrosion tests. This cyclic oxidation did not impair the coating's resistance to subsequent hot corrosion pitting attack.

protective coating↗

NASA NTRS2016

Retention of Compressive Residual Stresses Introduced by Shot Peening in a Powder Metal Disk Superalloy

The fatigue lives of disk superalloys can be increased by shot peening their surfaces, to induce compressive residual stresses near the surface that impede cracking there. As disk application temperatures increase for improved efficiency, the persistence of these beneficial stresses could be impaired, especially with continued fatigue cycling. The objective of this work was to study the retention of residual stresses introduced by shot peening, when subjected to fatigue and high temperatures. Fatigue specimens of powder metallurgy processed nickel-base disk superalloy ME3 were prepared with consistent processing and heat treatment. They were then shot peened using varied conditions. Strain-controlled fatigue cycles were run at room temperature and 704 C, to allow re-assessment of residual stresses.

fatigue↗

NASA NTRS2017

Residual Stresses in a NiCrY-Coated Powder Metallurgy Disk Superalloy

Protective ductile coatings will be necessary to mitigate oxidation and corrosion attack on superalloy disks exposed to increasing operating temperatures in some turbine engine environments. However, such coatings must be resistant to harmful surface cracking during service. The objective of this study was to investigate how residual stresses evolve in such coatings. Cylindrical gage fatigue specimens of powder metallurgy-processed disk superalloy LSHR were coated with a NiCrY coating, shot peened, and then subjected to fatigue in air at room and high temperatures. The effects of shot peening and fatigue cycling on average residual stresses and other aspects of the coating were assessed. Shot peening did induce beneficial compressive residual stresses in the coating and substrate. However, these stresses became more tensile in the coating with subsequent heating and contributed to cracking of the coating in long intervals of cycling at 760 C. Substantial compressive residual stresses remained in the substrate adjacent to the coating, sufficient to suppress fatigue cracking. The coating continued to protect the substrate from hot corrosion pitting, even after fatigue cracks initiated in the coating.

superalloy↗

NASA NTRS2018

The Effectiveness of a NiCrY-Coating on a Powder Metallurgy Disk Superalloy

Protective ductile coatings could be necessary to mitigate oxidation and corrosion attack on superalloy disks in some turbine engine applications. However, the effects of coatings on fatigue life of the disk during service are an important concern. The objective of this study was to investigate how such a coating could perform after varied post-coating processing. Cylindrical gage fatigue specimens of powder metallurgy-processed disk superalloy LSHR were coated with a NiCrY coating, shot peened, preparation treated, exposed, and then subjected to fatigue at high temperature. The effects of varied shot peening, preparation treatment, and exposures on fatigue life with and without the coating were compared. Each of these variables and several of their interactions significantly influenced fatigue life.

ductile coatings↗

NASA NTRS2023

Recrystallization of A Shot Peened Single Crystal Nickel-Base Superalloy

Single crystal nickel-base superalloys used as turbine engine airfoils can have much higher creep and thermal fatigue resistance required for blades and vanes than polycrystalline superalloys due to the absence of weak grain boundaries, as well as the low elastic modulus in the [001] single crystal growth direction (Refs. 1 and 2). This has allowed an increase in the turbine rim inlet temperatures for improved performance and efficiency. However, these advantages in performance require constraints on acceptable levels of single crystal defects, such as macroscopic grain boundaries at low angles to the primary grain (i.e., low angle boundaries or LAB), higher angle boundaries, small new grains nucleated at the blade surface (a.k.a. freckles), larger new grains, and also the single crystal blades’ orientation, typically degrees off of the [001] direction and the orientation of a transverse [010] direction with respect to blade geometry. Therefore, single crystal turbine airfoils, which are frequently used with as-cast surfaces, are grain etched and inspected before and after heat treatments to ensure these aspects conform to acceptability limits.

single crystal↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Effects of Cr and Nb Alloying Additions on High Temperature Creep Deformation of Ni-Based Superalloys

Micro-twinning is the major creep deformation mechanism in Ni-based superalloys at temperatures above 700 C°. Recent experiments suggest that superlattice stacking faults in phase may serve as the precursors to twin formation. Segregation of alloying elements to these precursors may have a significant effect on formation and extension of micro-twins. Using atomistic modeling we investigate and explain the effects of Cr and Nb alloying additions on these processes. We consider the experimentally obtained creep curves for several Ni-based superalloys with different elemental compositions and relate the observed trends to the simulation results presented in this study. Our results help to rationalize the experimentally observed puzzling effects of elemental composition of the alloy on creep resistance.

Ni-based superalloys↗

DOE OSTI2020

Rafting-Enabled Recovery Avoids Recrystallization in 3D-Printing-Repaired Single-Crystal Superalloys

The repair of damaged Ni-based superalloy single-crystal turbine blades has been a long-standing challenge. Additive manufacturing by an electron beam is promising to this end, but there is a formidable obstacle: either the residual stress and γ/γ' microstructure in the single-crystalline fusion zone after e-beam melting are unacceptable (e.g., prone to cracking), or, after solutionizing heat treatment, recrystallization occurs, bringing forth new grains that degrade the high-temperature creep properties. Here, a post-3D printing recovery protocol is designed that eliminates the driving force for recrystallization, namely, the stored energy associated with the high retained dislocation density, prior to standard solution treatment and aging. The post-electron-beam-melting, pre-solutionizing recovery via sub-solvus annealing is rendered possible by the rafting (i.e., directional coarsening) of γ' particles that facilitates dislocation rearrangement and annihilation. The rafted microstructure is removed in subsequent solution treatment, leaving behind a damage-free and residual-stress-free single crystal with uniform γ' precipitates indistinguishable from the rest of the turbine blade. Finally, this discovery offers a practical means to keep 3D-printed single crystals from cracking due to unrelieved residual stress, or stress-relieved but recrystallizing into a polycrystalline microstructure, paving the way for additive manufacturing to repair, restore, and reshape any superalloy single-crystal product.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Extreme hardness at high temperature with a lightweight additively manufactured multi-principal element superalloy

Materials are needed that can tolerate increasingly harsh environments, especially ones that retain high strength at extreme temperatures. Higher melting temperature alloys, like those consisting primarily of refractory elements, can greatly increase the efficiency of turbomachinery used in grid electricity production worldwide. Existing alloys, including Ni- and Co-based superalloys, used in components like turbine blades, bearings, and seals, remain a performance limiting factor due to their propensity, despite extensive optimization efforts, for softening and diffusion-driven elongation at temperatures often well above half their melting point. To address this critical materials challenge, we present results from integrating additive manufacturing and alloy design to guide significant improvements in performance via traditionally difficult-to-manufacture refractory alloys. We present an example of a multi-principal element alloy (MPEA), consisting of five refractory elements and aluminum, that exhibited high hardness and specific strength surpassing other known alloys, including superalloys. The alloy shows negligible softening up to 800°C and consists of four compositionally distinct phases, in distinction to previous work on MPEAs. Density functional theory calculations reveal a thermodynamic explanation for the observed temperature-independent hardness and favorability for the formation of this multiplicity of phases.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

Simulation and analysis of small angle scattering (SAS) patterns of Ni-based superalloy microstructures generated by a phase-field model

This paper investigates the relationship between microstructural features and small-angle scattering (SAS) patterns in Ni-based superalloys using a combined phase-field and SAS simulation approach coupled with microstructure analyses. The simulated SAS patterns accurately capture key experimental observations previously reported in the literature, including the time-dependent transition from circular to square-shaped precipitates and the development of anisotropic SAS patterns. Importantly, our analysis reveals the correlations between characteristic length scales extracted from SAS profiles and microstructural descriptors, such as precipitate size and inter-precipitate distance. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the link between SAS profiles and microstructure evolution in Ni-based superalloys, offering valuable insights for materials characterization and design.

Microstructure↗

DOE OSTI2024

Impacts of Superalloys on the Surface Quality of Additively Manufactured Channels

Abstract Gas turbines feature many components that require superalloys capable of handling extreme thermal environments. Increasing the selection of materials available for these components is important to their use in these extremely high-temperature environments. This study investigated two recently developed materials intended to be used for additive manufacturing (AM), with one superalloy based on cobalt and the other on nickel. Sets of four test coupons were built using the materials, in addition to the commonly used Inconel-718, on multiple laser powder bed fusion machines. Several build conditions were varied between coupon sets, including coupon orientation, contour settings, and upskin and downskin treatment. Each set of test coupons featured four unique cooling designs to explore how different cooling technologies would be impacted by the variations in build conditions. After being built, coupons were computed tomography (CT) scanned to determine accuracy to design intent and quantify the surface roughness. The CT scans indicated that horizontally built test coupons had a significantly higher deviation from design intent and higher surface roughness than those built vertically. Results also indicated that the cobalt-based alloy consistently had a smoother surface quality with lower surface roughness compared to the nickel-based alloy. After geometric characterization, the cooling performance of the test coupons was measured experimentally. Pressure losses were found to correlate with increases in surface roughness; however, in some cases, the convective heat transfer did not increase proportionally to the pressure loss as a result of surface features significantly blocking the flow without proportionally increasing convective heat transfer.

Engineering↗

DOE OSTI2021

Additive manufacturing of high-strength multiphase nanostructures in the binary Ni–Nb system for the discovery of new types of superalloys

Abstract Ni-based superalloys have been studied extensively due to their impressive mechanical properties, including strength and creep resistance at high temperatures. Growing interest surrounding additive manufacturing (AM) methods has led to recent investigations of alloys that are traditionally difficult to process, including Ni-based superalloys. Recent work has shown that AM methods enable high-throughput materials discovery and optimization of difficult- or impractical-to-process alloys, including those with high or even majority refractory element compositions. This work focuses on AM-enabled investigations of composition-dependent mechanical and microstructural properties for Ni–Nb binary alloys. Specifically, we report on the mechanical behavior of compositionally-graded Ni x Nb 1− x and uniform composition Ni 59.5 Nb 40.5 specimens made with AM. The AM fabrication process resulted in extraordinarily high strength, attributed to the formation of a dual-phase microstructure consisting of δ-Ni 3 Nb and µ-Ni 6 Nb 7 intermetallic compounds with nanostructured and multimodal grain size and eutectic lamellar spacing. Graphic Abstract

Jones, M. R.↗

DOE OSTI2020

Determination of Stress-Free Lattice Spacing (D₀) for Residual Stress Relaxation Measurement in Ni-based Superalloys by Neutron Diffraction

The residual stress and its relaxation in critical engineering components are key to structural materials reliability. The determination of residual stress in bulk engineering structures like Ni-based superalloys can be conducted by measuring the lattice strain with penetrating neutron diffraction. The state-of-the-art engineering diffraction beamline VULCAN at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) provides the critical capability to evaluate the residual strain/stress relaxation in engineering component thanks to the high flux and event data features. By the means of residual stress/strain calculation, it is critical to accurately determine the stress-free lattice spacing d₀, which can be altered by the change of chemistry, unrelieved stress, and measurement scheme. Here we reported d₀ determination for determining residual stress relaxation and distribution in Alloy 718 superalloys after different quenching treatments. Selection of locations for d₀ measurement was discussed by considering the neutron path, attenuation and sample alignment. A dynamic d₀ that resulted from atom diffusion and chemistry change was estimated as function of time for the in-situ relaxation characterization. It demonstrated how the dynamic d₀ values may influence on the strain calculation in different thermally treated samples. The results highlight the importance of dynamic d₀ for in-situ relaxation involving chemical changes and provide guidance to the dynamic d₀ measurement and simulation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2022

Multi-modal Approach to Modeling Creep Deformation in Nickel-base Superalloy

This study developed the multi-modal modeling approaches to elucidate the physical and overall mechanical properties of two complex alloy systems of Ni-based Superalloys, namely Haynes 282 and Inconel 740. The overall strategies employed systematically in different scales of modeling are based on the common structural framework of the multi phases that made up the Ni-based Superalloys, namely the matrix phase of the Gamma ($\gamma$) phase which is embedded with ordered Gamma prime ($\gamma$’) precipitates and decorated with the dispersions of mostly carbide precipitates. With this in mind, we had set up the modeling platforms to incorporate a wide range of scales, starting from electronic structures to the continuum level via the crystal plasticity model.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗